Steinheim

First Jewish presence: 1602; peak Jewish population: 131 in 1855 or 160 in 1885 (sources provide differing information); Jewish population in 1933: 59

The presence of Jews in Steinheim was first documented in 1602. In 1808, with the establishment of the consistory of the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Jewish community was recognized as an institution. In 1854, the community became part of a synagogue district that also included other towns in the area, notably Woebel, Belle and Ottenhausen; the Jews from those towns attended services in Steinheim. Steinheim’s Jews conducted services in prayer rooms until either 1756 or 1794, when they inaugurated a synagogue at 90 Rochusstrasse. We also know that a new synagogue was inaugurated on the corner of Markt and Schulstrasse in 1884, and that Steinheim’s Jewish cemetery was consecrated in the 19th century. The Jewish population of 1933 was 59. Although services were discontinued in 1936—the last teacher and chazzan had left by that year, and the synagogue property had been sold back in 1930—the house of worship was still vandalized and looted during the late 1930s. On Pogrom Night, SA men tried, unsuccessfully, to break into the synagogue. They were successful the next day, however, and vandalized the interior, threw ritual items onto the streets and transferred the organ to nearby Ottenhausen. In December 1938, the German army completed the destruction with explosives. Seven Jewish men were arrested on Pogrom Night and sent to Buchenwald. The Jewish cemetery was vandalized in 1940. In 1942, 18 Jews were deported to the death camps. At least 32 Steinheim Jews died in the Shoah. A memorial plaque was later unveiled at the former synagogue site.

Benjamin Rosendahl

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

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